aye-aye
Daubentonia madagascariensis latin

The scientific name of the Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) these genus and species.

Its cranial and dental traits are comparable to that of the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis), suggesting a possible close relationship.

Aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)

ARKive - images and movies of the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis)

Alternatively, it may have closer ties to the aye-aye (Daubentonia madagascariensis) within the lemuroid (lemur) radiation.

The aye-aye's binomial name, Daubentonia madagascariensis, honors the French naturalist Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton and the island on which it is found, Madagascar.

The 'Aye-aye' ('Daubentonia madagascariensis') is a strepsirrhine native to Madagascar that combines rodent-like teeth with a long, thin middle finger to fill the same ecological niche as a woodpecker.

The taboos surrounding the aye-ayes are so pervasive that some think the primate, whose scientific name is Daubentonia madagascariensis, gained its common name as a spinoff of the Malagasy expression for "I don't know," suggesting that even to mention the creature is forbidden.

In the two and a half decades since Douglas and I arrived to look for aye-ayes (Daubentonia madagascariensis), the country's human population has doubled from roughly 10 million to more than 20 million, and that means more and more pressure on its natural resources.